US tests first drone launched from aircraft carrier

Larger X-47B is seen as the future of warfare

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While the Navy’s X-47B isn’t intended for operational use, it will help officials develop future carrier-based drones that could begin operating by 2020,

By Brock Vergakis
Associated Press
May 15, 2013

ABOARD THE USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH — A drone the size of a fighter jet took off from the deck of an American aircraft carrier for the first time Tuesday in a test flight that could eventually open the way for the United States to launch such aircraft from just about any place in the world.

The X-47B is the first drone designed to take off and land on a carrier, meaning the US military would not need permission from other countries to use their bases.

‘‘As our access to overseas ports, forward operating locations, and airspace is diminished around the world, the value of the aircraft carrier and the air wing becomes more and more important,’’ Rear Admiral Ted Branch, commander of Naval Air Forces Atlantic, said after the flight off the Virginia coast. ‘‘So today is history.’’

The move to expand the capabilities of the nation’s drones comes amid growing criticism of America’s use of Predators and Reapers to gather intelligence and carry out lethal missile attacks against terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen.

Critics in the United States and abroad have charged that drone strikes cause widespread civilian deaths and are conducted with inadequate oversight.

Still, defense analysts say drones are the future of warfare.

The new Joint Strike Fighter jet ‘‘might be the last manned fighter the US ever builds. They’re so expensive, they’re so complex, and you put a human at risk every time it takes off from a carrier,’’ said James Lewis, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

One group said it is troubled by a trend toward developing fully autonomous weapons with no human intervention.

‘‘This is the next generation of military technology — the unmanned vehicles, the unmanned submersibles, the unmanned aircraft. This will be the future of warfare, and it will be a warfare that is a little less risky for humans but maybe a little more effective when it comes to delivering weapons and effect.’’

While the X-47B isn’t intended for operational use, it will help Navy officials develop future carrier-based drones. Those drones could begin operating by 2020, according to Rear Admiral Mat Winter, the Navy’s program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons.

The X-47B is far bigger than the Predator, has three times the range, and can be programmed to carry out missions with no human intervention, the Navy said.

While the X-47B isn’t a stealth aircraft, it was designed with the low profile of one. That will help in the development of future stealth drones, which would be valuable as the military changes its focus from the Middle East to the Pacific, where a number of countries’ air defenses are a lot stronger than Afghanistan’s.

‘‘Unmanned systems would be the likely choice in a theater or an environment that was highly defended or dangerous where we wouldn’t want to send manned aircraft,’’ Branch said.

During Tuesday’s flight, the X-47B used a steam catapult to launch, just as traditional Navy warplanes do. The unarmed aircraft then landed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland.

The next critical test for the tailless plane will come this summer, when it attempts to land on a moving aircraft carrier, one of the most difficult tasks for Navy pilots.

While Predators are typically piloted via remote control by someone in the United States, the X-47B relies only on computer programs to tell it where to fly unless a human operator needs to step in.

Eventually, one person may be able to control multiple unmanned aircraft at once, Branch said.

The group Human Rights Watch said it is troubled by what it described as a trend toward the development of fully autonomous weapons that can choose and fire upon targets with no human intervention.

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